Category: Deals and Cases

The Esin Attorney Partnership has advised the Islamic Corporation for Development of the Private Sector (ICD) on the extension of a USD 20 million murabaha facility to Aktif Yatirim Bankasi (“Aktif Bank”).

The ICD — a multilateral development financial institution and is a member of the Islamic Development Bank Group (IDB) — was established in November 1999 to support the economic development of its member countries through the provision of finance for private sector projects, promoting competition and entrepreneurship, providing advisory services to governments and private companies, and encouraging cross border investments. The ICD has an authorized capital of USD 4 billion and shareholders of the ICD include the IDB, 54 Islamic countries, and five public financial institutions.

Remarking on the matter, Esin Attorney Partnership Partner Muhsin Keskin — who led his firm’s team on the matter — commented that: “international financial institutions have been very instrumental in funding Turkish businesses and energy and infrastructure projects for the last couple of years. ICD is among the IFIs that have expressed interest in Turkey and it has committed to ensure sustainable economic and social development in member countries including Turkey. We are proud to have teamed up with ICD on this transaction which marks the growth of our Islamic finance practice.”

Keskin was supported by Esin Attorney Partnership Associates Berkay Ozludil and Serenay Cinki.

Sayenko Kharenko’s international trade team has represented Vita Polymers Poland in a safeguard investigation related to imports into Ukraine of plates, blocks, and sheets of flexible foam initiated by the Interdepartmental Commission on International Trade.

The firm reports that its services included drafting commentaries, participating in the hearings and drafting post-hearings submissions, and answering the requests of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine, among other things. The firm’s team was led by Partner Tatyana Slipachuk, supported by Counsel Anzhela Makhinova and Associates Olexandra Brovko and Ivan Baranenko.

DZP is advising WGE Development on the restructuring of liabilities under ten bond series vis-a-vis 120 bondholders in accelerated arrangement proceedings. The case is being heard by the restructuring court in Warsaw.

According to DZP, “this is the second restructuring case in Poland carried out vis-a-vis a bond issuer and the first to be heard by the court in Warsaw. It is aimed at an arrangement being made between WGE Development and the holders of its bonds – a bank financing the company and other creditors.”

Restructuring proceedings were introduced to Polish law on January 1, 2016 and implement a second-chance policy for businesses. DZP describes its work for WGE Development as “pioneer” and “precedential,” as the proceedings are based on new regulations, are among only a few accelerated arrangement proceedings in Poland, and follow “a special procedure … based on provisions on the restructuring of bond issuers.”

The DZP team consists of Partner Marek Swiatkowski, Senior Associate Igor Barcew, and Associate Michal Cecerko.

Raidla Ellex has advised DataMe OU, an Estonian fintech company, on the creation of a new credit register to be used for processing of credit data of private individuals.

According to Raidla Ellex, the new register allows Estonian lenders to exchange real time data relating to the financial obligations of its customers, allowing for the “making of better quality credit decisions faster and at a lower cost, increasing the quality of credits and making it easier to comply with regulatory obligations.” Raidla Ellex described is as “the first such real time register in Estonia.” 

The firm’s team consisted of Partners Raino Paron and Ants Nomper and Associate Gerly Lohmus.

CMS has advised PKN Orlen on an investment in a new metathesis unit for the production of polymer-grade propylene which will enable propylene production capacity at PKN Orlen’s plant in Plock to increase by about 100,000 tonnes a year, to a level of 550,000 tonnes.

CMS reports that PKN Orlen’s investment is now entering the implementation phase, and estimates its value at PLN 400 million. The firm’s work included preparation of the contract for the design, supply, and construction of a “turnkey” metathesis unit and representation of PKN Orlen in negotiations with potential contractors.

“Our objective is to effectively diversify revenue sources and strengthen the efficiency of the Orlen Group’s Downstream Segment,” said Wojciech Jasinski, President of the Management Board of PKN Orlen. “We want to maximize capacity utilization in Poland and the Czech Republic, and push for greater integration between petrochemical and refining areas, which will give us flexibility required to respond to market changes in demand for fuels and petrochemicals. We will focus on products with a broad range of applications in the plastics industry, because the industry’s purchasing power is growing and its medium-term prospects point to a steadily upward trend.” 

“In this type of investment contracts it is crucial to properly allocate tasks, responsibilities and risks between the investor and the contractor, as well as precisely define the scope of the contractor’s work, so as to avoid potential disputes when the contract is carried out,” added CMS Partner Iga Lis.

The firm’s team consisted of Lis, fellow CMS Partners Tomasz Minkiewicz and Karolina Siedlik, and CMS Senior Associate Maciej Ziolkowski.

Image Source: orlen.pl

Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners is reporting that its Competition Law and Litigation practices successfully defended the interests of Yandex, Russia’s largest IT company, in a dispute with Google at the Russian Court of Appeal.

According to EPAM, “the Court upheld the judgment of the Court of First Instance, in accordance with which Google now must comply with the ruling of the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS). Google was instructed to pay a fine of RUB 438 million and to comply with the ruling issued by FAS, which includes the following stipulations: Google must uncouple the Google Play app store from other services, including search functions, remove restrictions on the installation of apps by other developers from agreements with mobile device manufacturers, and notify Android device users of the need to remove the company’s pre-installed apps and change the default search engine.”  

The EPAM team advising Yandex consisted of Counsel Evgeny Bolshakov, Senior Associate Oleg Bouiko, and Associates Oxana Akhmedova and Alexander Kiselev, all working under the supervision of Partner and Head of Competition Law Practice Natalia Korosteleva and Partner Denis Arkhipov.

Sorainen Estonia has assisted DT Group Finland in divesting 100% of Puukeskus shares in a management buy-out to Atso Matsalu, the long term CEO of the company.

Sorainen describes DT Group Finland as “part of the world’s leading specialist distributor of plumbing and heating products,” and describes Puukeskus as “the leading distributor of wood-based building materials in Estonia, having started operations in 1996.” 

The Sorainen team was led by Partner Toomas Prangli and included Specialist Counsel Kadri Kallas and Associate Kai Vainola.

Sorainen did not reply to our inquiry about counsel for Atso Matsalu.

Dentons’ Bratislava office has advised Tatra banka, a member of the Raiffeisen Group, on a syndicated loan of EUR 250 million to Eurovea A.S. to refinance the Eurovea multifunctional complex in Bratislava. The Relevans law firm advised Eurovea on the loan.

The syndicated loan was arranged by Tatra banka. The other banks involved include Komercni banka (a member of the Societe Generale Group) and Vseobecna uverova banka (a member of the Intesa Sanpaolo Group).

The Eurovea complex was completed in 2010 by Irish developer Ballymore Properties. It covers 46.5 hectares and comprises 23,000 square meters of office space and 55,000 square meters of retail/entertainment space. Since 2014, Eurovea has been owned by Peter Korbacka, co-owner of J&T Real Estate Holding and J&T Private Equity.

The Dentons team was led by Counsel Stanislava Valientova, Co-head of the Banking and Finance practice in Bratislava, and supported by Counsel Martin Mendel and Associates Zuzana Farkasova, Petra Urdova, and Matej Kosalko.

Relevans did not reply to our inquiry on the matter.

Image Source: ballymoregroup.com

Eterna Law has advised Swarovski AG – the Austrian company specializing in the production of jewelry made of cut lead glass — in resolving an unauthorized use of its trademarks and intellectual property.

According to Eterna Law, the firm “advised Swarovski AG in dealing with [a] distributor who used the trade marks [and] intellectual property objects, owned by Swaroswki AG, on a website and in exhibitions without permission.” Although Eterna Law confirmed that the matter had been resolved out of court, no further information was available.

The Eterna Law team was led by Head of IP Ilarion Tomarov. 

Erdem & Erdem has advised Yilport Holding on its acquisition of operating rights to the Puerto Bolivar Harbor, located in Machala, Ecuador, for a period of 50 years, in return for an investment of USD 750 million.

The Concession Agreement was executed at an August 8, 2016, ceremony attended by approximately a thousand people. The term sheet of the public-private partnership project was signed in February, 2016, in the presence of the president of the Turkish Republic, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa . 

Yilport Holding now conducts 21 terminal operations in 8 countries. As a result of Yilport Holding’s investment in the Puerto Bolivar Harbor, which is expected to increase its container capacity up to 2.5 million TEU, the harbor will become the biggest and most-developed container terminal on Latin America’s Pacific Ocean coast. 

The Erdem & Erdem team was led by Partner Ozgur Kocabasoglu.